Archive for July 2011

The above is not a political elephant but the logo for my little publishing company called BackStroke Books.

In the midst of the debt ceiling debate, I am finally finally getting my new novel done (the next project of BackStroke Books!) I say new novel–it, like the “resolution” of the debt ceiling debate, is something that has taken far too long to finish.

On the subject of the debt ceiling (how’s that for a segue?): the Left is mad at Obama–for not asserting “leadership,” for not somehow mandating higher taxes on the rich, for agreeing to cuts in social services and entitlements, for agreeing to cuts in government spending during a time of economic crisis. But what I wonder, listening to it all, has the Left expected Obama to do?

The guy (i) doesn’t have the votes to get the deal he might want; and (ii) is already viewed as Trotsky by an alarmingly large part of the population. He’s talked about fairness, obstructionism, the economy, on and on and on. He simply cannot do what a Bill Clinton might have done–mainly, I think, because Clinton was viewed as someone, no matter what he said, with a soft spot for the rich, while Obama, no matter what HE says, is forever suspected of forcing the sharing “Joe the Plumber’s” wealth.

In the meantime, many on the Right have become completely intractable. For some, the attack on the debt seems truly an attack on government in general, the perceived interference of minimum wage laws, food and drug regulation, the separation of church and state, (God forbid) environmental protection….

Writing a young adult comic novel seems kind of trivial in these circumstances. Although there seem to be plenty of non-adults around in politics, the comic part seems to sometimes veer towards tragedy.

It has been a hunkering down kind of day. Blinds down to block out blinding (and blistering) sun. Fan fluttering to create the illusion of free cool-dom. Trying, in my case, to finally finally get a manuscript really finished. (Almost there!)

And hoping too to spread through osmosis, like prayer or meditation, some hunker-down, finally-get-it-done, no-stopping-till-you-do spirit; to send some all the way down to my hometown Washington, D.C., where obfuscation and overheated dogmatism still block a resolution to the debt crisis–so much fluttering–so many blinds!

So far, no good!

(PS – I should probably apologize for the video, but I really do love anything variegated, movement in stillness. Granted, this is not quite sun on water, movement through stream, wind in the grasses. What can I say? I’m in NYC!)

Please note that my earlier posting quoting Yeats: “The best lack all conviction while the worst are full foe passionate intensity” was not meant to imply that both sides of the debate are equally partisan or unreasonable. I feel that the “worst” definitely belongs to the Republican side here–they are obstructionist and unreasonable and seem willing to damage the country rather than to risk any chance of economic improvement during Obama’s presidency.